Most reliable external HDs

[onthecouchagain]

Care to chime in on what's the most reliable external HD brand(s), and which you you guys and gals personally use with your macs?

 

[Jnardis]

I use Western Digital. It was the smallest one I could fine that was powered by the computer through USB. And I also found it the easiest to partition so I can have half Windows and half Mac.

 

[miles01110]

All platter-based hard drives are the same and will fail. If you need reliability get an SSD.

 

[wrinkster22]

I have had good luck with my External WD Passport.
This is the one I got.
If you dont need it right away, I would wait a few months as hard drive prices have soared dut to the flooding in Thailand.
EDIT: If you want you can get a hard drive and an enclosure separately.
Also any hard drive will do, you just need to format if for Mac.

 

[GGJstudios]

I've been very pleased with both of these, from Other World Computing (OWC):

OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro..........................OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro™

 

[onthecouchagain]

All platter-based hard drives are the same and will fail. If you need reliability get an SSD.

Are there affordable SSD external HDs available now? I'm not finding many...

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I've been very pleased with both of these, from Other World Computing (OWC):

OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro..........................OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro™

My, they are beautiful, but quite pricey! Is there a reason for their high prices?

 

[GGJstudios]

My, they are beautiful, but quite pricey! Is there a reason for their high prices?

I suppose price is relative. I found their prices quite acceptable, but I'm sure if you shop around, you can find something that meets your needs at a lower price. After all, you did ask for recommendations on most reliable, not lowest price. The two don't always go hand in hand.

 

[jwm2]

From what i've read solid state drives have a predefined # of reads and writes before they will fail. It may not come into play in most user environments, but it is something to keep in mind. Loading your os might not put as much demand on the drive as loading other forms of data and applications.

 

[dizmonk]

Ditto except I got the 3GB WD.

I use Western Digital. It was the smallest one I could fine that was powered by the computer through USB. And I also found it the easiest to partition so I can have half Windows and half Mac.

 

[onthecouchagain]

Well, I just pulled the trigger on this fella: http://www.buy.com/prod/fantom-gree...external-hard-drive-w-2gb-free/222595903.html

Fantom GreenDrive 1.5 TB for $99 dollars

 

[derbothaus]

All platter-based hard drives are the same and will fail. If you need reliability get an SSD.

Except for all the SSD's that fail as well. Maybe you should have said "Get an Intel SSD". Slower but best reliability. Corsair, Kingston, OZC, OWC, Crucial, Samsung all have similar failure rates as mechanical.